Race Report - Anglesey 1st/2nd May 2005 (Derby Phoenix)
Anglesey is a circuit I'd not been to before, so I booked up for the track day on the Saturday to give me some time on the circuit to get used to it and scrub in tyres. We travelled up there Friday night to make sure we were there in good time, which was a good thing because it took over four hours so doing the journey Saturday morning would have taken up most of the day and left me knackered for the track day. It's a fair old drive to say the least, but Anglesey circuit has a beautiful setting right on the coast.......just like Phillip Island, but a lot colder and wetter!
| We woke up Saturday morning to fairly heavy rain and although the forecast was for better things in the afternoon, it stayed wet for most of the morning sessions. I didn't go out for the first session as I needed to change wheels and was simply waking up from an early start to sign on, but I got out for the second session to find myself on a wet track with no idea where I was going and with new brake pads to boot! Still, I managed to find my way around ok and by lunchtime it was dry enough to switch to intermediates for a few quicker laps. After lunch it actually dried up nicely and I managed to get my laptimes down into the 52's, but needed to be quicker to be competitive. Then just as I decided to use the last session to put in some quick laps, the sea mist came down and the track day was abandoned. Oh and just to prove how changeable the weather is at this place, two hours later the mist lifted and the sun came out! That said, all the races I competed in both days were dry (although the Sunday practice was wet) and the rain actually held off until Monday afternoon when we were packing up to go home......got soaked! | |
Sunday Races
My results from Croft and the absence of Michael Saunders with a broken leg, put me front row of the grid for the first race of the weekend and being early in the holding area, I was allocated pole position. It didn't help much though as my start was crap and I dropped back to 5th or 6th as we went through the first half of the lap, but Steve Smith binned it two corners in leading and I made my way through some other riders in front of me to get up to third behind Tim Bradley. I was stuck in right behind Tim for virtually the whole of the race and couldn't see my way through at all, with Tim trying all he could do to try in vain to get past Dan Williams. Then as we exited the last corner on the last lap, Tim barged his way through and in doing so, banged fairings with Dan nearly sending him off the track and allowing me to get through to take 2nd.....excellent! I even got the fastest lap too, with 50.69 seconds!
For the next I was 2nd on the grid, but got another crap start to drop me down to around 5th again by the first corner. I battled my way up to 3rd and was sat again behind Tim and Dan, but this time Tim had managed to get away clean at the start and was gone early on. So it was just left with me to battle with Dan and that's exactly what we did the whole race, with me actually passing him a couple of times on the brakes going into the hairpin, but then leaving the door wide open for him to dive back underneath me and retake 2nd. So that was how it finished, with just half a second between me and Dan for me to take 3rd and get my first silverware of the year.
Monday Races
First race out and I was third on the grid, but I got another rubbish start and ended up around 4th or 5th around the first turn, but once again I managed to get my way up to third by the end of the first lap. It was Dan leading this time with Tim Bradley right up behind him and it wasn't too long before he got past and I was then up behind Dan. A couple of laps more and I made a move on Dan to take 2nd, but once again Tim had pulled a good lead and try as I might over the next five laps, I couldn't reel him in so that's how it finished. Still, second place is not to be sniffed at and my points tally was getting bigger all the time, with what turned out to be my best race of the weekend yet to come!
Having had problems getting the bike off the line all weekend, I decided to adjust the clutch so that it would bite earlier and hopefully give me a bit more feel to the lever. It didn't work and my start was as crap as they had been all weekend and I found myself 5th by the first corner, but this time I was determined not to lose touch with the leaders and I rode around the outside of the two guys in front of me to take 3rd place up over the hill and towards Radar. With Dan leading, I was tucked in behind Tim as we completed the first lap and then just as we went through Radar, Tim lowsided the rear and was down. I managed to get round him without hitting his bike and chased Dan, but then a lap later Steve Smith came past me and he then very quickly got past Dan as well to take the lead. I was tucked up right behind Dan for a couple more laps and tried a few moves, but I saw my chance around School (the first turn after the start/finish straight) and I then even though I do say so myself, made a blinding move up the inside to take 2nd! I then went after Steve and caught him with a lap and a half to go and was all over him like a rash for the last lap. The only place I could really see I was quicker was through the left/right just before the start/finish straight, so I lined him up on the last lap to get better drive out the corner, but it wasn't quite enough and I went over the line in 2nd place just 0.13 secs behind him.....I could virtually touch the win, but it wasn't to be! Oh, well......my third 2nd place of the meeting and some more silverware is still a brilliant result!
So all done it turned out to be a fantastic weekend, with me taking four podium results and a total points tally of 76......the highest score of any of the Formula 400 riders and elevating me to 3rd in the championship!
As for Lesley, she was having kittens on Sunday with the first podium, but by Monday and watching the last race in particular she was jumping up and down and screaming frantically! I think that whenever I get this elusive win she will probably pass out with excitement or if she does stay conscious, the people around her will think she's completely lost the plot and gone mad! Still, it's nice to see her jumping around when I get a good result and she must enjoy it to put up with me ranting on about it for the next week and however long!
Roll on Cadwell for more of the same hopefully, although it's not exactly my best circuit and I need to improve my laptimes considerably if I'm going to get good results.